Wednesday 1 October 2014

Last Night (TW self harm & suicide)

(Trigger Warning: Details of self harm & mention of suicide)

Last night was scary. I was either in crisis or very close to it. I’ve been having severe stomach pains and bleeding recently but, being me, I was leaving it in the hopes it was just some horrible bug. Last night got too much though. I was thinking about all of my mental health and physical health problems. It seems like the list just gets bigger, but with no extra help. I'm trying to just accept it and deal with it. I never really have "good" mental health or physical health days. I guess it's more split into "doing ok", "coping" and "not coping". I couldn’t stop crying and was very very close to hurting myself. I didn't realise this for a while, and luckily it wasn't actually causing any injuries, but I'd started biting and scratching my hands. Years ago, I used to bite the back of my hands, when I was being bullied and I felt really frustrated and weak for not being able to do much about it. I think it was my way of letting the frustration out, and also a way of punishing myself for not standing up to them. It's only very recently that I've realised it is a form of self harm. Up until now, I guess I didn't think it was, because it didn't result in bleeding or a trip to A&E. This shows how ignorant I'd been about it before. 
I think this is the worst mum’s seen me. I refused to call crisis team because last time they did nothing. Mum had to try the GP surgery twice before they’d let me have an emergency appointment. I also had to speak to my GP over the phone. I didn’t want to, and I could barely get my words out, but I knew I had to. 
She was really kind and understanding. There’s something about her voice and general attitude, that can be quite calming. Sometimes I feel like I get too attached to her because I’m afraid of never getting that support again if I move out of the area. I made it to the surgery about an hour after the phonecall, and spoke to her about how I was feeling. It turns out that the Naproxen I’d been prescribed was starting to damage the lining of my stomach and my oesophagus. I dread to think what it’d have done if I hadn’t made sure I had food at the same time. I was told to come off it completely. I don’t mind that, because it wasn’t helping the pains anyway. The bleeding was due to a fissure, so thankfully nothing serious, & I have some cream to pick up tomorrow. I’ve now been put on Tramacet (a combination of Tramadol and Paracetamol) and will go on Tramadol if it helps and doesn’t cause too severe side effects. I’m also on Lansoprazole for the pain, acid reflux and sickness. Finally my Amitriptyline has been increased from 75mg to 100mg. She didn’t want to prescribe anything different because of the suicide risk (I was already at a huge risk of hurting myself). She did tell me that I should’ve rang the crisis team. I got home and felt a bit calmer, so no need to call them. 
Today, I’ve still been feeling really awful. I've been trying to have small simple meals, but I'm still having a lot of pain. I've decided to give it a couple of days before I try the Tramacet, just to let my stomach etc calm down a bit. The bleeding isn't as bad either. There was a lot of it last night, and I worried that I might have to go to hospital (my local A&E are pretty terrible, so I avoid them as much as possible). I took my 100mg Amitriptyline last night, and got to sleep around 4am (it was 7am the other day, so this is an improvement). I've been feeling a bit sedated today, and I'm worried about going into crisis again, but I'm trying to take it easy and be kind to myself. If I go bad again, then I’ll ring the crisis team. 
I know I've been taking a long time getting back to messages. I've been finding it extremely difficult to concentrate, but I will get back to people even if I can't manage to say much. I'm so grateful for people who have been there for me. It helps a lot :)

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you got to see your Doc, I know what you mean about relying on a Doc too much though - mines quite rubbish but I just can't stand the thought of seeing someone else! Anxiety/Depression etc sucks. And being in constant pain/feeling foggy/exhausted/insomnia etc makes dealing with the MH stuff seem impossible.

    It all sucks, and you are doing brilliantly just getting through each day, getting help for yourself when you need it. Reaching out when you need help is really difficult so try to remember how awesome you are. Be nice to yourself, because you're pretty great you know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I never really thought about hand-biting as such... Thank you for sharing that because now I realize that in the context of my life, it's also self-harm. Just like scratching and other things were.

    Thank you for sharing this and *hugs* always. It is such a struggle and I'm glad to have you as an ally in it and hope I can help more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete